Return to the NBA! Can Smith, 27, stay with the Mavericks?

Remember Dennis Smith Jr.? He is back in the NBA.

The latest report from famous reporter Shams, free agent Dennis Smith Jr. reached a one-year contract with the Mavericks. He will participate in training camp in Dallas to fight for the chance to play in the new season (most likely the E9 contract).

Dennis Smith Jr. must be familiar with the name Dennis Smith. He was nicknamed TV. He was the ninth pick in the first round of 2017. He was once highly expected. Those selected behind him include Monk (11th pick), Mitchell (13th pick), Adebayo (14th pick), Jarret Allen (22nd pick), Anunobi (23th pick), etc.

It should be noted that the Mavericks selected at that time, but after only playing for more than a season, Smith Jr. was abandoned by the Mavericks. The reason is very simple, because later in the 2018 draft, the Mavericks got Doncic. The story about Dennis Smith and Doncic is also worth mentioning. Both of them need the ball rights and are indeed incompatible when they are on the court. It is not surprising that Smith Jr. was a deal, but there were rumors that the two had a bad relationship when the deal occurred. The rumors were later shattered in the 2021-22 season.

On the contrary, Doncic and Smith Jr. have a very good relationship in private. They often go out or play games together. When Smith Jr. was traded, Doncic was still very shocked.

Interestingly, Doncic is no longer in the Mavericks, but Smith Jr. has returned. Of course, his role is much different from a few years ago because he hasn't played in the NBA for a year.

Smith Jr. played in the NBA last time in the 2023-24 season. At that time, he played in a total of 56 games for the Nets, including 54 substitutes, averaging 18.9 minutes per game, scoring 6.6 points, 2.9 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.2 steals, with a shooting percentage of 43.5%/29.4%/74.1% in three events, and his real shooting percentage was only 50.8%.

Smith Jr. has obvious advantages. He has excellent athleticism, can attack with the ball, has good passing ability, and has done a good job in control mistakes in recent years. The point is that his defense has also improved in recent years. He is good at stealing. The Nets' defensive BPM reached +1.8 in season, and this is his fourth consecutive year of defense BPM higher than +1, which is quite good.

{nothing bad is his shooting percentage, with three-point shooting percentages of 29.4%, 21.6%, and 22.2% respectively in the past three seasons, and his career three-point shooting percentage was only 29.8%.

In addition to the three-point difference, Dennis Jr.'s mid-range and even free throws were not good, and his career free throw shooting percentage was only 67.4%, which also led to his extremely poor offensive efficiency. The Nets' true shooting percentage of 50.8% in the season was the highest in his career. In the previous three years, his real shooting percentages were: 47.5%, 47.4%, and 49.2%. On the offensive end, it may be because he knows that he is not efficient. His offensive desire in the past few years has declined a lot compared to the first two years of his career (the ball usage rate of 28.0% in the rookie season, while the Nets are only 17.4% in the season), but his football quotient is indeed not high, and sometimes there are problems with his shooting choices. In general, he is now a point guard with greater defense than offense and a certain organization.

Putting aside possible emotional reasons, the Mavericks signed Smith Jr. mainly because Irving was injured, which caused the Mavericks to find more point guards before Irving returned. For this reason, the Mavericks signed Russell in the offseason, and Hardy and Brandon Williams can also hold the ball.

Smith Jr.'s main competitor should be Brandon Williams. The two are competing for the Mavericks' 15th man and third point guard - purely personal opinion, Brandon Williams is more likely to stay, but it is reported that Smith Jr. performed very well in the Knicks' trial, so if you really want to squeeze Brandon Williams down, it might bring some surprises.

Finally, let's review Smith's career.

After leaving the Mavericks, Smith Jr. joined the Knicks, and was favored by many people when he first joined, but the final fact is that the Knicks era was the "darkest" period of Smith Jr. In two years, the Knicks changed four coaches, and he was not valued and encountered injuries. His most precious growth period was wasted.

After 2021, Smith Jr. has successively joined the Pistons, Trail Blazers, Hornets, Nets and other teams, but he was basically given up after playing for half a season or a season.

Last season, because he had been unable to find a job in the NBA, he also joined the La Liga giants Real Madrid, but he left because he was not used to it for only one month.

At that time, Smith Jr. has been trying to return to the NBA. Now, the Mavericks have given him this opportunity. Smith Jr. is only 27 years old. I look forward to seeing him again in the NBA next season.